From Slavery to BEE

The publication on May 1 of a new non-glossy, non-braai book called Grape – stories of the vineyards in SA by DA member of parliament Wilmot James, Chancellor of Rhodes University Jakes Gerwel and journalist Jeanne Viall will be a welcome addition to the national wine library.

grape

Publisher Tafelberg describes it as “provocative and quirky, Grape is the highly readable story of vineyards and wines in South Africa. It takes us from the earliest Dutch settlers’ struggle to plant vines under difficult conditions, through slavery, the forgotten black wine makers, land dispossession, a long history of making plonk (with a few exceptions) and the emergence of a world-class fine wine culture in the 1990s.”

It will appear at a most opportune time as the whole transformation of the industry is being challenged by a leading player, Denise Stubs, Director of Business Development at Thokozani, a Wellington-based empowerment producer.

The Indian Wine Academy quotes Denise as saying “Less than 1% of South African wineries are under black ownership – far less than other South African industries such as tourism, mining or banking” and throwing question marks at the empowerment statistics of WOSA, Wines of SA, the exporters’ association. “ ‘Although we are a part of WOSA which claims there are already 40 working wineries under the BEE programme, I cannot count more than 10,’ added Denise who had difficulty recounting more than five on her fingers for me.”

South Africa is already very much in the news in India following an interpretation of the relationship between Mohandas Gandhi and German/Jewish/South African bodybuilder/architect Hermann Kallenbach (discussed in a new biography by Joseph Lelyveld) as proof that Gandhi was gay.

The linkage of SA wine to racial inequality is unlikely to help sales in the subcontinent, a market currently being targeted by SA producers.